15,000 hotel rooms in pipeline

The 20th anniversary edition of the Arabian Travel Market opens today to a buoyant mood set by the industry, with billion-dirham investments in the pipeline to fulfil Dubai’s vision 2020 to attract 20 million tourist visitors.

An infrastructure overhaul will see an additional 15,000 hotel rooms in the pipeline, according to the Dubai Tourism Commerce and Marketing (DTCM), in addition to greater connectivity across it travel channels with the opening of Dubai World Central Airport and airline partnerships, such as the Emirates-Qantas Airways alliance.

Speaking ahead of the four-day industry event, Mark Walsh, Portfolio Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions and organisers of the ATM, spoke about the region’s tourism growth, saying: “The region’s travel and tourism sector is expected to directly contribute $76.6 billion in annual GDP in 2013, which is forecasted to rise a further 4.2 per cent by year-end.”

Walsh credited the growth to “ongoing investment in the sector and infrastructure development” in the region, adding: “According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the industry in the UAE is growing faster than the world GDP growth average, contributing to 14 per cent to the UAE economy in 2012 and expected to rise by an additional 3.2 per cent this year.”

Infrastructure investment

With vision 2020 of Dubai targeting 20 million tourists, Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of DTCM and CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre, confirmed that hotel rooms will continue to be added to target the numbers they have in mind.

“We are looking at an additional 15,000 hotel rooms in the pipeline to facilitate this growth,” he said, without confirming a time limit.

Talking about the tourist influx into the emirate, Almarri said: “We have maintained that China and India continue to be impressive growth markets for us. But near markets are our biggest inbound tourism influx, followed by China, which is growing exponentially.

“But this doesn’t mean we rule out our traditional markets such as Germany and the United Kingdom.”

When quizzed about facilitating more streamlined visa procedures to fulfil this influx of tourists, Almarri reiterated that the new rules to facilitate MICE tourism has been well received, adding: “We continue to look into greater development in visa rules and this continues to be work in progress.”

Key players

Delivering a keynote address at today’s ATM opening day will be Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, CEO and Chairman, Department of Civil Aviation, The Emirates Group and Dubai World, who will present the achievements of the emirate and the UAE over the last 20 years in terms of developing its travel, tourism and building the country into an aviation hub.

This year, the, which ATM runs until 9 May at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, is expected to welcome over 2,500 exhibitors from 87 countries, covering over 22,000 square metres of floor space, compared with just 300 companies and 2,000 square metres when the show first opened in 1994.

A total of 25 international tourism ministers will participate in the second annual UNWTO/ATM Ministerial Forum on Tuesday, with the theme of setting a common growth agenda for tourism and aviation.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the forum will look at how tourism policies and aviation can work together more closely in order to support sustained economic growth and sector development.

Visitor numbers are also set to break records this year, with Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of ATM, looking to build on the 2012 figure of 17,000 registered visitors. “

Confirming a strong presence are key players in the aviation sector, including Emirates and flydubai, along with major hotel chains including the Ritz-Carlton group, Hyatt, Rotana, Marriott, amongst other industry movers and shakers.

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